Given the immense and growing popularity of Seven Nations' live performances, a concert album was bound to happen. With Road Kill, Volume 1 and Road Kill, Volume 2, released separately in 1998, the happy heavy-bagpipe band has gone a step better.

This isn't just a retread of cuts available on better-quality studio albums. Seven Nations has thrown in a handful of gems. Who, after all, hasn't ached to hear "Funky Town" played on pipes? Who'd want to miss The Antipypr's snippet of "The Unicorn," his slip about a mustached ex-girlfriend or his plea for the return of a stolen pub sign?

Not content to record a single live gig and slap it on a disc, the Scots-Irish-American quartet from the American Southeast pieced together the best samples from concerts in more than a dozen states and at least three countries. The quality of the live recordings is exceptional, and the two collections are a comprehensive slice of a Seven Nations concert experience.

(Anyone not already familiar with the band's lively fusion of Celtic traditional and driving rock styles should check out their previous studio releases: Rain and Thunder (1994), Old Ground (1995) and Big Dog (1996).

Seven Nations' most popular tunes are on the two-disc set, including "Crooked Jack," "Under the Milky Way," "No Reason," "The Pound a Week Rise" and "Our Day Will Come" on Volume 1 and "Ye Jacobites by Name/The Rights of Man," "Lannigan's Ball," "Blackleg Miner" and "Johnny Cope/Trip to Jerusalem" on Volume 2. There are also ample bagpipe-and-guitar instrumental sets, which never fail to get the band's audiences moving. The "Scotland the Brave/Dixie" mix, which closes out Volume 1, is priceless.

The band benefits from the dual leadership of Kirk McLeod, who lends the band its '80s hard rock image and provides lead vocals, guitar, keyboards and occasionally the Highland pipes, and Neil Anderson ("The Antipypr") on lead vocals, Highland and uilleann pipes, and tin whistles. The quartet is rounded out by Struby on bass guitar and Ashton Geoghagan, who replaces Nick Watson on percussion.

Although McLeod sings lead on most of the band's anthems, Anderson's quirky personality always dominates between tunes and his sense of fun takes over whenever he commandeers the main microphone. It's impossible not to enjoy his enthusiastic renditions of "Whiskey in the Jar" and rap-influenced "Trip to Jerusalem" in particular.

The interaction between band and audience is light-hearted and casual, and adds a lot to the "almost like being there" quality of the two albums.

I've had the good fortune to see Seven Nations live several times, in venues large and small, and Road Kill 1 & 2 is a great way to relive the moment.

(Addendum: Seven Nations' fans may already have heard that Neil Anderson decided in November '98 to leave the band to pursue separate musical avenues. At this writing I have no idea how that decision or the addition of piper Jamie Holton will change the Seven Nations, but it's fair to note that the two Road Kill albums are now the only way to get a taste of Neil Anderson's live contribution to the band.)